


the moon above you and the streets below

by HeavenlyDusk



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, jason is surprisingly the confident one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:33:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavenlyDusk/pseuds/HeavenlyDusk
Summary: In the end, falling in love with Tim Drake is a happy accident.





	the moon above you and the streets below

**Author's Note:**

> First JayTim fic, whoo~  
> They're probably incredibly out of character. Also, what even is a timeline?
> 
> I was listening to a certain song and this happened. Idk why I thought of them when I listened to the song, but here you go. I wasn't sure what I was doing while I was writing this and I still don't know what I'm doing.
> 
> Enjoy?

_Well, I'm not sure what this is gonna be_  
_But with my eyes closed all I see_  
_Is the skyline, through the window_  
_The moon above you and the streets below_  
_Hold my breath as you're moving in_  
_Taste your lips and feel your skin_  
_When the time comes, baby don't run_  
_Just kiss me slowly_

_~ Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute_

* * *

Tim isn’t looking at Jason. He’s turned away, eyes downcast. He’s not moving away from him either. Jason has a loose grip on his wrist that he could easily break out of, but he doesn’t. They stand together, silent, unmoving. Jason’s helmet is discarded on the top of the roof next to their feet.

“Please, wait,” Jason says quietly, desperately.

“Jason…” Tim looks like he wants to say something else, but nothing comes out. His mouth closes.

Down below, cars drive past, and civilians are none the wiser.

* * *

“Jason,” Tim says, lips quirked in a half-smirk.

“What do you _want_ , baby bird?” Jason groans, lifting his head from his couch. “It’s my day off, y’know.”

“You don’t take days off.” Tim rolls his eyes, unimpressed. “I need your help with this case.” He’s standing by the window, having climbed in like all the other bats and birds. No one is capable of using the door like a normal human, apparently.

“How did you find my safehouse?” Jason huffs, sitting up fully. He’s given a look in response. “Whatever. What case?”

Over time, they found that they actually work well together. As Jason began to calm and the effects of the Lazarus Pit began to dwindle, as he began to let the family in bit by bit, they found that they clicked. Tim is a bit looser with his morals than the rest of the family, though he still won’t kill, and Jason is surprisingly smart with strategies and planning. So the times where they begin work together has become more and more frequent.

Jason has a deal with the bats: he doesn’t kill in Gotham, and they don’t argue too much about how he runs Crime Alley. It doesn’t always work, but it keeps him closer, like they want him to be.

“Prostitution ring,” Tim answers, holding up a few files. “Interested?”

Jason knows that he doesn’t actually need the help at all. Tim can and has solved large cases on his own. But he stands smirking in front of the window, files in hand, and asking for his help.

“Give me five minutes and then give me the rundown,” he decides.

He stands, and Tim’s smirk turns to a smile.

\--

Sometimes, after a night out of catching bad guys, Jason finds himself in a small, somewhat isolated diner. He comes in, helmet under his arm and mask on, and the waiters and waitresses that have come to anticipate him give him his regular seat. He had saved the owner from some rather persistent debt collectors, and he ended up never leaving.

It used to just be him. He would come in, angry from another confrontation with Bruce or Dick or any of the Bats and he’d be given tea and whatever else he wanted at the time.

Tim joins him later.

Before he starts letting the family in again, but after he starts calming down, he and Tim work on a case together. When it’s all over and done with and the explosion has subsided, Jason turns to him and says, “Wanna grab a bite to eat?”

Tim looks at him in slight surprise. “…Where?” he asks. It’s the early hours of the morning, but there are plenty of places open 24/7.

“I know a nice place.” Jason takes off the helmet and grins, crooked and sharp. Tim follows him down to the ground. Jason leads him to the diner, not too far from where they had been standing. They’re greeted by a waitress with a bob cut and a pencil behind her ear.

“Hey there, Hood,” she said, smiling brightly at him. It drops when she sees Tim. She narrows her eyes. “Why’d ya bring a Bat in here?”

“He’s cool, Lana,” Jason tells her. “We just got finished with work and I’m starving. Got anything to eat?”

“We’re a _diner_ , Hood.” She rolls her eyes, amused. “Go on. Shoo. Off to your normal table. Someone’ll be with ya in a sec.” She hands them a few menus and waves them off.

There are very few people in there at this time of night. There are rarely people around when Jason comes in. One or two stare as they take their seats, but most patrons continue sitting and eating, not sparing them a second glance.

“Where did you find this place?” Tim asks, still looking around. Jason isn’t sure if he’s genuinely curious of the rundown diner or if he’s looking for escape routes.

“Helped the owner with something and got a free meal out of it. Then I just never left.” He shrugs.

Tim smiles. “Sounds like you.”

Of all the Bats, Tim was the one who believed in Jason the most. Even though Jason tried to kill him, even though Jason hated him for so long, he was the one that believed in him. He thought that there was still a little bit of Tim’s Robin in the Red Hood, and Jason had considered that a weakness.

Maybe he was right. Maybe he was wrong. Jason still doesn’t know. He thinks that Robin is dead and gone, but Tim is rarely wrong. Even if he is, it’s because he made that effort to try and figure him out that he is Jason’s favorite.

And that smile gets to him.

“Shut up and look at your menu.” Jason kicks his leg gently. Tim chuckles and ducks behind the menu.

They keep going to the diner after patrol, after more cases. They keep going. The waiters and waitresses and the owner all come to expect Red Robin after the first few times too. It’s only ever Red Hood and Red Robin.

The other Bats likely know about the diner visits, but none ever come in.

* * *

“Let’s talk inside,” Jason says. Tim still hasn’t looked at him.

“Fine.” Finally, he shakes off his grip and starts heading down the stairs to Jason’s apartment. Jason picks up his helmet and follows him.

There is, luckily, no one around to see Red Robin and the Red Hood head down to a certain apartment. It’s late. Everybody is either pretending to sleep or actually sleeping.

They don’t talk.

* * *

Tim is on TV a lot. He’s a representative of Wayne Enterprises, so of course he’s on TV a lot. Jason sees him in passing sometimes while flipping through channels. He stops and watches Tim talk about some new project. He doesn’t know what that project is. He doesn’t register the words.

Every time he’s on TV, he always has a smile on his face. It’s a polite smile. There’s no emotion behind it. He speaks the exact words that everyone wants to hear with perfect politeness behind his voice. He’s the poster child for the rich son of a rich businessman. He is so depressingly fake.

Jason has seen Tim smirking victoriously at him. He has seen him down three cups of coffee in one sitting. He has seen him angry and deadly and sarcastic and mocking.

For some reason, it makes him feel undeniably smug about being one of the few who sees Tim as _Tim_.

\--

Jason waits outside of Tim’s classroom, pretending not to notice as people walk past and whisper about him. He clicks through random apps on his phone, not actually doing anything.

He looks up as the door opens and people start pouring out. He keeps watch, looking for Tim, and he grins as he sees his familiar head of long, black hair. With no warning, he wraps an arm around him and pulls him from the crowd. “Hey there, baby bird!”

“Wha—Jason?” Tim sputters, blinking at him with wide eyes. He wouldn’t be caught dead looking anything less than the perfect picture of composure if he hadn’t been caught by surprise.

“I’m kidnapping you,” Jason says matter-of-factly. He had done his research, so he knows that he doesn’t have another class for the day. He steers them off campus and ignores the feeling in his chest when Tim doesn’t break away from him.

“Why?” he asks.

There are reasons. There is never _not_ a reason for the things Jason does. But this time something keeps him from saying it. For now, he decides to keep that to himself.

“Why not?” he responds.

\--

“I hope you know that my classmates now think I have a secret boyfriend,” Tim tells him on patrol. He is glaring at him, but he doesn’t actually look angry.

“Sweet. What else did they say about me? Did they comment on my devilishly handsome looks?” Jason smirks at him from under the helmet.

“ _Jason_.”

* * *

“Want anything to drink?” Jason asks, heading to the kitchen. Tim stands in the living room, cowl pulled down. He has been there so many times before, but this is the first time he’s looked so awkward and uncomfortable. Jason worries that he might have been wrong about this situation.

“No,” he answers.

* * *

When Tim is angry, it’s never a good idea to call him ‘Replacement.’ Jason stopped calling him that a long time ago, but it is still something to keep in mind. It’s sort of ironic that, when Tim is angry, he has started coming to him.

“What did Bat Brat do now?” Jason asks as Tim stalks around his safe house. “If you’re going to throw something, throw a pillow.” It’s nice, not being the angry one for once. Usually, Jason _is_ the angry one, even though they have slowly started to integrate him into the family again.

“Oh, the _usual_.” Taking his advice, Tim steals one of his couch pillows and throws it at the wall. “That was not satisfying.”

“Never said it was, baby bird.” Jason shrugs. He takes a sip of his tea and then sets it back on the counter. “Did you want to go punch some bad guys then?”

“ _Yes_.” There’s so much relief in his voice that it makes Jason smirk.

\--

There are so many pictures. Jason looks through the folders upon folders of pictures, all from before his death. He’s impressed. They’re all in relatively good quality and he has no idea how he and Bruce had never managed to see this kid following them around almost every night.

“How did you never get hurt doing all this?” he asks, waving a picture of an old fight with Ivy.

“Skill.” Tim grins at him. “And also determination. I… _may_ have gotten hurt a _few_ times, but never too much. I was just good at it.”

“We are all horrible detectives.” Jason picks up another photo. It’s a close-up of him, back when he was Robin. “And you were a very persistent stalker.”

“I was _not_ a _stalker_!” Tim protests. Pointedly, Jason holds up more pictures, all of him and Bruce. There’s a surprising amount of just him. He absolutely does not preen at that fact.

“You’re still kind of a stalker,” Jason hums. He grins as he spots a more recent photo. “Now what’s _this_?” He grabs it before Tim can. It’s him, but he’s Red Hood. It couldn’t have been more than a few months old. He has a serious look on his face, helmet gone somewhere and he is maybe a bit battered. He’s shooting at someone and there’s more than a little chaos going on in the background, but it’s obvious that he’s the focus of the shot. He doesn’t know where Tim was when it was taken, but he’s flattered and a little disappointed in his own inability to notice him.

Tim’s cheeks color and he snatches the photo from his hands. He smooths it with his thumbs, almost as though he’s scared to have ripped it or folded it on accident. “Shut up.”

For a long time, Jason called him ‘Pretender’ along with ‘Replacement.’ It had fit because at the time, it seemed like there was nothing _real_ about him. A lot of his mannerisms were picked up from other people. A part of it was also because he was ‘pretending’ to be Jason, pretending to be Robin, but Jason had noticed how nothing about Tim had looked like Tim.

Seeing him blushing and smirking and talking about his pictures is all Tim to him now. It’s not Dick’s smile or Alfred’s speech. It’s just Tim.

_Oh._ Jason realizes, seeing the light catch in Tim’s eyes.

\--

If one were to look, they might see two boys walking in the park. One looks like a college student, smaller than his companion and all too noticeable. The other looks like a bit of a delinquent, with the leather jacket and messy black hair coupled with a white patch hanging in the front. It would look like an odd set up.

Jason thinks it’s kind of funny. He’s not sure Tim has thought much of it, but he’s seen people glancing at them. Not often, because this is _Gotham_ after all, and a few odd friendships aren’t the weirdest thing in the world, but still odd. People look at him and probably think ‘dropout’. They look at Tim and recognize him as Bruce Wayne’s prodigal son.

As they walk through the orange and red and yellow leaves, it’s Jason criticizing the overall confusing writing of the novel he had finished reading the other day and how it shouldn’t have been allowing to be published due to the wide arrange of inaccuracies within it. It’s Tim who’s smiling and nodding as though he has any idea what Jason is talking about. He’s probably not paying a whole lot of attention because for all that Tim is a genius, he doesn’t like learning the way Jason had.

So it’s funny, the way that they’re completely different from the way they make themselves out to be.

Jason likes these walks of theirs.

* * *

They don’t sit down. They stand by the open window that Jason had forgotten to close earlier that day. Jason’s cup of tea is placed back on the counter and they’re both just staring at each other. Neither wants to speak first.

“Why?” Tim asks at last. “Why—why _me_? What do you hope to gain from this?” He gestures, waving a hand between the two of them.

“It’s not about _gain_ , Tim,” Jason answers. He forgoes the nickname for once. “This is just… me. Telling the truth.”

“I don’t understand,” Tim says helplessly. It’s so sad and Jason wants to know why he thinks it’s so hard to believe.

* * *

“Come to Christmas dinner at least,” Tim requests.

“Dickie already asked me that,” Jason snorts, rolling his eyes. “I said no, and I’ll say it again. _No_.” They’re sitting in a fast food place in civilian clothing. Jason hasn’t quite started talking to most of the family again, but he sometimes lets Dick get away with talking to him for more than five minutes, and Cass refuses to let him get away when she wants to spend time with him. Tim occasionally chooses to just ambush him and not leave, so Jason learned to stop arguing with him about it.

“Alfred says he’ll make you your favorite if you come by,” Tim says, voice taking on a slightly sing-song tune. “And Dick _promises_ he’ll try to keep any and all cape talk away from the dinner table. Emphasis on _try_ , but it’s the thought that counts.”

Jason eyes him, not wanting to give in. “What are you, the messenger?”

“Yes. So what do you say?” Tim smirks at him.

He’s getting kind of tired of fighting. “Fine. But I also get the last say on the movie afterwards.”

“Deal.”

\--

Just because Bruce and Jason had started talking again doesn’t mean they don’t go without their fair share of fights. Jason doesn’t kill, but he’s still harder on criminals than they are, and much too independent.

Jason stalks out of the cave, out of the manor, and takes off on his motorcycle. He doesn’t aim to go anywhere in particular, but he finds himself back in Crime Alley. He always finds himself in Crime Alley. For all that Gotham is cruel and sadistic, she is still his home, and he finds comfort in the dirtier parts of the city.

He walks for a while and eventually stops, giving in to the need for a smoke. He leans against a dirty brick wall near an old alleyway that he remembers having ducked into as a kid. He lights a cigarette and inhales.

He exhales just as deliberate footsteps could be heard approaching him. He doesn’t need to look to know who it is. Dick is the one who placates Bruce. It used to be Jason who had to calm himself down.

That’s not exactly true anymore.

“You know those aren’t good for you,” Tim says.

Jason opens his eyes and looks at him with a lazy grin. “I’m not about to die again. It’ll take a whole lot more than some cigarettes to kill me a second time.” He’s still looking at him with his arms crossed and a disapproving look on his face. Jason rolls his eyes and changes the subject. “So? Was I in the wrong this time?”

“No, actually.” Tim leans against the wall beside him. His clothes are probably expensive, but he doesn’t appear bothered by the fact that he’s getting them dirty. “Bruce was being too hard on you this time. He’s not always right.”

Jason snorts and takes another drag of his cigarette. “As always.” He offers the cigarette to Tim. “Smoke?”

He gets an unimpressed look in response. “Jason.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “Worth a shot.”

\--

Tim is usually careful. He doesn’t get hurt because he plans. He is a lot like Bruce in that way. He has contingencies for everything, but _apparently_ he hadn’t stopped to think that he might get hurt this time.

“You can go home, Jason,” Dick says, resting a hand on Jason’s shoulder. He shrugs it off. “He’s stable. We’ll watch him and we’ll call you when he wakes up.”

Jason doesn’t look at him. He doesn’t look at anything except Tim’s still form in the cave. “I’m staying.”

Dick probably shakes his head. Jason hears him walking away and still, he doesn’t move. Nearby, Damian scoffs. “Why do _you_ care, Todd?” he asks, as though the reason isn’t obvious.

* * *

“What is there to understand?” Jason asks. “I’ve been doing… _this_ whole thing for weeks. Months, even. What do you need to understand?”

“You’re _you_ ,” Tim says, frustrated. “You’re _the_ Robin, the one that I followed for _so_ long. Everything about you is just… _more_. And in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have the best track record either.”

Jason gets it. He, unfortunately, gets it. By the time Tim became Robin, Bruce made it a point to make sure he was perfect. He didn’t want to lose another son, but he was distant. Damian’s constant criticism of everything he did didn’t help. Tim normally didn’t pay attention to him, but coupled with Bruce’s inability to act like a father nine out of ten times made it harder. And Tim has tried to be better before and has crashed and burned and it became another thing weighing on him. Jason has gone to him before, to try and get him to rest, and to try and show him what _he_ sees when he looks at him.

What Jason sees is a beautiful genius who could probably take over the world if he wanted to and deserves so much more than Jason does.

“Tim.” It’s probably overstepping boundaries. Neither of them are very good at this. They don’t know how this works. Jason takes another step closer. He cups the side of Tim’s neck, just under his jawline. Tim doesn’t pull away, leans into him instead. “I _like_ you.”

* * *

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t healthy,” Jason says, staring at the array of empty coffee cups near the batcomputer. “No, like, seriously. How are you not dead?”

“Coffee would never betray me,” Tim responds. He doesn’t even look up from the computer. Jason’s not even sure that he’s blinked in the past few minutes.

He would be content to just leave him there, except Tim hasn’t moved in the fourteen or so hours and it’s getting concerning. Bruce saw nothing wrong with it, but Alfred asked him to at least try and get Tim to do something other than work.

“Alright, you need sleep.” Jason bodily lifts him from his chair, wrapping his arms around his waist to keep him from suddenly jumping. “Jesus, I feel like I’m carrying _air_. You weigh literally _nothing_.” Tim starts kicking, trying to get out of his hold and return back to the computer, but Jason has a strong grip on him.

“Jason! I need to solve this case!” he protests as he claws at his arms.

“Nope. You’re resting.” Jason smirks at him and starts carrying him back up to the manor. Tim doesn’t stop protesting and Jason doesn’t stop ignoring him. They pass by Dick at one point. He’s sort of gaping, but Jason offers nothing more than a sharp grin his way.

\--

Jason swings down to land beside Tim on the roof. It’s early morning and the moon is still high. “Quiet night,” he says, grinning at him from behind the helmet. He reached up to remove it and he tucks it under his arm. It’s never _quiet_ in Gotham, but it’s a slow night.

“I’m thinking of turning in early,” Tim says, turning to him.

“Before you do that, do you mind if we have a talk?” Jason asks. He is a little surprised by how suddenly vulnerable he sounds. He was nervous before, but he wanted to try to sound as confident as he could. It turns out he can’t pretend to be more confident than he is.

“Uh, sure. Go ahead.” He sounds a little confused.

Jason clicks his tongue in a surprisingly nervous sound. “So. I’ve been kind of flirting with you for a while now, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way I do.”

Tim blinks at him. His mouth opens a bit in a small gape. “I don’t… How about we have this talk in the morning?” he says weakly. _No_. No, that’s not what Jason wants. He can see the sudden tremor in his body, the way he’s starting to curl in on himself. “It’s been a tiring night. How about I call you in the morning and we can figure this out then?” He starts to turn, ready to run, but Jason moves quicker. He drops his helmet and grabs his wrist—not too tightly, but enough to make him stop.

The only sounds are the cars and the people on the streets.

\--

For a long time, Jason doesn’t really know. He doesn’t make any sort of move because, well, for the longest time he _kind of_ thought Tim had a thing for Connor Kent. Then he just didn’t know why Tim would feel anything for him. He’s fucked up and he did try to kill him one or two times, even though they’re friends now.

(He tried getting the girls to give him advice once. Cass called him an “idiot little brother,” Steph just started laughing, and Barbara shook her head and told him to figure it out on his own)

Then Jason is talking about books again. It’s his go-to topic and he can never just stop talking about books. Tim doesn’t always agree with his thoughts, but he listens. And he probably doesn’t think Jason is paying much attention to him because Jason has a small tendency to get carried away while waxing poetic.

But Jason looks. He turns his head to get a second opinion and he looks into his eyes and sees _something_ there.

And he knows.

* * *

“I’m not good at… at _relationships_ ,” Tim says hopelessly.

“You think I am?” Jason huffs quietly. “We’re _Bats_. We’re going to fuck up. There’s no way we _won’t_. But I’m willing to try if you are.”

Tim searches his gaze. The moon is reflecting in his eyes from the open window. Jason thinks he can probably write poetry about the blue of his eyes. “I’m pretty emotionally stunted.”

Jason quirks his lips. “So am I.”

“…Okay,” Tim answers at last, surprisingly confident. His voice doesn’t waver. “Okay. I’ll give it a try.” He doesn’t grin, but the hesitant smile he gives isn’t small either.

The lights are all flickered off, but the moon provides enough light for him to see. They stare at each other, faces close and breaths beginning to mingle. Jason leans in. Tim follows. Their noses bump gently and they kiss, slow and soft.

Outside, Gotham is alive.


End file.
